This fine British pre-war adventure film is a pleasure to watch. Sanders (played by Leslie Banks) plays the decent District Officer trying to to put and end to chaotic inter-tribal warefare in colonial Africa, using mostly his powers of persuaion. But the fun of it all is in the 1930's style of the film, which is full of dashing, derring-do. Paul Robeson plays a native helper to Sanders (look for the King George medal ["G. V. I." - George V, Emperor] around his waist) - he's not the star of the film (as the box says). The theme of "good government is a good thing" was perhaps noted by an extra in the cast - Jomo Kenyatta, who went on to become the first leader of independent Kenya (alas, his successors have not taken the message to heart.) There is an eerie prophetic quality to this light-hearted adventure - it may remind a few viewers of the awful, bloody Mau Mau uprising in 1950's Kenya, in which various tribes went for each others throats in an orgy of violence. Fortunately, this film is just a wonderful piece of 1930's British cinema!
If you like this, try: The Drum, Kim (the old version, starring Sabu), The Four Feathers, Gunga Din, the Charge of the Light Brigade, A Passage to India, Out of Africa, Gandhi, the Jewel in the Crown, the Man Who Would Be King and Zulu.
